Ford V10

Just completed a trip to the north Ga hills & this time I let the engine work on the hills between 4000 to 4500 RPM's & it pulled much better, plus I got better MPG than I would have thought in the past.

Bruce Brown wrote:
^^^ Exactly. Its a wonder they live at all. When you think about the numbers its an engineering marvel.

No nothing of their reputation for longivity, but....
The Aston Martin Valkyrie has the highest redline of a piston-engine road car rated at 11,100 rpm. The Renesis in the Mazda RX-8 has the highest redline of a production rotary-engine road car rated at 9000 rpm.

^^^ Exactly. Its a wonder they live at all. When you think about the numbers its an engineering marvel.

Bruce, the main point is the pistons are accelerating from 0 to 100 mph 84 times every second, at 5,000 rpm, and stopping, reversing direction, and acceleration to 100 mph again. This taking the stroke of the V10 in to account. At 3,000 rpm, this happens 50 times a second, but at a slightly slower speed. Your post points out staggering points, along with my post, its a wonder a engine lives at all.

If my math is right, and I certainly could have missed something, the pistons in that 458,000 mile V10 have been up and down a bunch.

Lets assume a 35 MPH average speed @ 3,000 RPM. (Your overall average speed is a lot lower than you'd think)

458,000 miles ÷ 35 MPH = 13,085 hours of run time.

13,085 hours x 60 minutes in an hour = 785,100 minutes of run time.

785,100 minutes @ 3,000 Revs per minute = 2,355,300,000 times those pistons have gone up and down.

That's impressive.

carringb wrote:

camperdave wrote:
I know everyone says the V10 likes to rev, but man I just personally can't let myself keep her above 4k rpms for any extended time, it's just so.. well.. revvy I guess.

If it makes you feel any better, I regularly hang out near 5,000 RPM, sometimes for 15-20 min at a time. When pulling heavy loads over the mountains, I just lock in low gear (2nd on mine, which is equivalent to 3rd on the 5R110) and let it hang out there. Then when I need to ease up for tight curves or slow traffic, i immediately catch right back up where I was (usually 58-62 MPH). My combined weight is 22-25,000 pounds. I replaced the first motor at 458,000 miles because of a warped a valve seat letting it run lean after the fuel filter plugged (my tune contributed, but my tuner took a bath that same weekend so I couldn't go back to stock). I also had the Banks PowerPack on since around 120,000 miles. All other cylinders still had in-spec compression, and the cross-hashing was clearly visible when I scoped it! And my 4R100 is still original with 483,000 miles!

It absolutely amazes me, when I try to imagine in my mind the flutter of moving parts going on inside one of these engines.
And not for an hour or two, but day after day and year after year.
A big Diesel at 1500 - 2100 rpm's maybe, but for 4 - 5K, it's mind boggling.

camperdave wrote:
I know everyone says the V10 likes to rev, but man I just personally can't let myself keep her above 4k rpms for any extended time, it's just so.. well.. revvy I guess.

If it makes you feel any better, I regularly hang out near 5,000 RPM, sometimes for 15-20 min at a time. When pulling heavy loads over the mountains, I just lock in low gear (2nd on mine, which is equivalent to 3rd on the 5R110) and let it hang out there. Then when I need to ease up for tight curves or slow traffic, i immediately catch right back up where I was (usually 58-62 MPH). My combined weight is 22-25,000 pounds. I replaced the first motor at 458,000 miles because of a warped a valve seat letting it run lean after the fuel filter plugged (my tune contributed, but my tuner took a bath that same weekend so I couldn't go back to stock). I also had the Banks PowerPack on since around 120,000 miles. All other cylinders still had in-spec compression, and the cross-hashing was clearly visible when I scoped it! And my 4R100 is still original with 483,000 miles!

The V-10 has been torture tested by Ford and at various RPM’s. It will live all day long at 4K! Just let it work the way it was designed. Other than the very intrusive throttle by wire programming.

camperdave wrote:
I know everyone says the V10 likes to rev, but man I just personally can't let myself keep her above 4k rpms for any extended time, it's just so.. well.. revvy I guess. When the hill is that steep, I manually drop it to a lower gear, keep it right at 4k and cruise on up. Not floored, just cruising along but not letting it upshift. Yup, I get passed by other folks, but I'd only save maybe 5 minutes on the day if I kept WOT instead of limited to 4k.

It's a big load for a smallish engine.

Yeah, I can feel your pain somewhat and even though it's said, that you can't hurt it and in fact the engine loves it.

I used to do what you're describing with our old coach and for having a GM with a tranny that wasn't made to handle a heavy toad. Not because it didn't have the power, but for the tranny wanting to overheat. Either way, low gear at 25mph takes care of it and yes, you might be 5 minutes late getting into a spot for the night. Oh my!

I know everyone says the V10 likes to rev, but man I just personally can't let myself keep her above 4k rpms for any extended time, it's just so.. well.. revvy I guess. When the hill is that steep, I manually drop it to a lower gear, keep it right at 4k and cruise on up. Not floored, just cruising along but not letting it upshift. Yup, I get passed by other folks, but I'd only save maybe 5 minutes on the day if I kept WOT instead of limited to 4k.

It's a big load for a smallish engine.